Several years ago, a world-wide corporation that makes among many other things ketchup, decided to offer to the public, well, ketchup, the exact same product that they has been producing for many decades, only this particular offering of the condiment was not its normal red, but green in color. As I understand it, it did not remain on the shelves for long, for it was not accepted by the masses. Exact same product with a different color, but mostly refused.
The root cause of anything will always give us the best insight as to the effects of that thing, and whether it is taste in ketchup brands, the vehicle you drive, or the clothes you wear, all of these preferences come down to one singular fact, we have a choice, we have free will to make our own decisions. A choice of course must first be offered, if only one type of meal is offered, that that is the meal you will be eating, unless you make the choice not to eat, the decisions that we make in this life almost always come down to the choices that are offered to us, therefore, the consequences of those decisions are always upon us, we are accountable for our actions. “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
When God called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans, (Gen. 12:1) he could have said no, when Gideon was sent, when Matthew was told to follow, all could have said no, they had a choice, the same choice that we have today. You might say, “Well yes, that is true, but God Himself was calling these people, they heard His actual voice,” and you would be correct, but were there not thousands that were present and in the presence of Jesus Christ in the flesh when He spoke, and not all made the choice to follow Him. But we can do better than that, have there not been billions of people who have had access to the complete and inerrant Word of God for several centuries now, how many have made the choice to give their lives to Him, and how many have decided to continue to deny His offering of salvation.
Man has been given free will, the choices he makes he is responsible for, the consequences of those actions, of that choice to serve Him or not to serve, have been set by the only One who is Holy and Righteous enough to determine the end result of those choices. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) Not you, not me, God, and the One who is Sovereign over all has seen it wise in His ways to give man a soul that will never die, that will exist throughout eternity, in His infinite wisdom, He has granted man the choice of his own destiny, but there are only two choices, there is no third option.
In this righteousness He alone bears He has determined, and rightfully so, that all should worship Him, for He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise, the reward for those that chose to willingly serve is eternal love, for those who will not, eternal damnation and wrath. Almighty God’s Sovereign rule over all of His creation gives Him the right to set up the rules, if you like, it is only because of His mercy and grace that He has given every person the ability to choose the end result of their existence for themselves. He has set eternity, the knowledge of these truths, in the heart of every single person ever born, (Eccl. 3:11) He has made the invisible things able to be clearly seen by all who will but look, (Rom. 1:20) and He has promised that all who diligently seek Him will find Him. (Heb. 11:6) The option of the choice to serve Him or not has been given to all, there is none with an excuse.
Grace is His covering, longsuffering is His raiment, mercy is available to all who will but seek it. The choices are nearly endless on this planet, it is the way that Satan has determined it to be, everything must be offered all the time, the singularly focused believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is his greatest enemy, for this man has already made his choice, he has determined the words of Scripture to be true, and the One who wrote it to be faithful.
The choices offered to the man of God by this world fade exponentially as he focuses on the One who offers everything. What is set before him can be discerned as from God or a temptation of the adversary. All that enters into his life is seen as a blessing, each and every moment of everyday is seen as an opportunity to serve. The choice has been made, there are no other viable alternatives that can modify his decision. This man has determined that the One who died for him is worth dying for, the world has nothing left to offer this person. When we make a decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, what we are doing is telling Him that he is all we will ever need, He alone is all we will ever seek for, everything that this world has to offer is seen as not worthy of our attention.
When we come to Christ we are saying that we are willing to die to ourselves, we gave up our right to make anymore choices for ourselves, we willingly put every aspect of our existence into His capable, loving hands. It is the only choice that matters, it is the only decision you will ever make that will affect not only every aspect of your life here, but for all eternity.
